As the Noah 2014 Hollywood film divides Christians into supporters and opposers, we should bear in mind the ideas behind its production. The ‘creator’ of the film, an atheist, did not use the bible for his script, but the godless ideas of the Kabbalah, a Jewish occult practice (though some prefer not to call it occult).

Kabbalah can have variant spellings, and each spelling tends to be for a variant practice within kabbalah, e.g. Cabala, qabbala, etc. Kabbalah has its source in Judaism; a Jew who believes in it is called a mekubal. This ought not to surprise us, when we consider that most of Judaism is now godless, sometimes in the extreme. The idea behind it is that it claims to search for the meanings of life itself, the universe, of self, and so on. Its aim is to reach ‘spiritual realisation’. It is an esoteric technique that lends itself easily to New Age thought and occultism. Sadly, Christians (?) are also showing interest in it.

The red flag raises because kabbalah says it seeks the ‘inner meaning’ of the Old Testament and rabbinical teachings, which makes it gnostic by nature. Its adherents say kabbalah predates all religions, being a format that explains religions and philosophies. It first appeared in the 12th and 13th centuries, following a Jewish courtship with mysticism. It is just one example of what happens when the nation chosen by God forget their Lord, reject the Messiah, and allow themselves to run after ‘other gods’. From the 18th century it permeated the Hassidic form of Judaism. Since the 20th century it has sparked interest in all Judaistic factions, as well as in non-Jewish groups. Even sadder is the way kabbalah is now being used to re-interpret the Old Testament, giving the ‘true (inner) meaning. Magical practices are associated with kabbalah.

Kabbalah is essentially theosophical (the modern equivalent of the occultism taught by Helena Blavatsky). It also tries to attain to a mystical union with God (the ecstatic tradition of meditative kabbalah). The branch called ‘Magico-theurgical’ (‘Practical Kabbalah’) tries to alter the spiritual and worldly realms. Its prayers attempt to manipulate heavenly forces, and white magic is used. This branch is not mainstream.

Jews claim that kaballah was taught orally by the prophets and patriarchs and later mixed with tradition and culture of the Jews. Apparently, the Sanhedrin, fearing the influences and misuse of their scriptures by foreign invaders, sought to hide their knowledge, making it secret. It is said that over a million Jews practised kabbalah in the tenth century BC, which shows how corrupt Israel had become in a short space of time. The Sanhedrin at the time just after Jesus’ death, the diaspora, also feared a similar fate, so increasing efforts to make Jewish thought secret and esoteric. Is this a big reason why Jesus warned Israel and spoke of God’s destruction of the nation, when He saw(?) how God’s holy word was corrupted by kabbalah?

Each branch of kabbalah has its own concepts, and yet each is supposed to be true! Modern teachers try to restrict kabbalistic thought to a few texts, but the main core is still theosophical, with ecstatic states. Its thought system is highly abstract.

Kabbalistic Jews say their system arose in Eden and was knowledge given only to the righteous (the Tdzadikim). The Talmud extended and continued this idea and said God gave this secret knowledge to Moses, though some also say He gave it to Adam. Of course, none of this is actually found in scripture, and it runs counter to plain talk by God throughout scripture.

Some Kabbalists say that the book of Ezekiel contains encrypted knowledge, speaking of a ‘divine chariot’. Genesis, too, is said to contain secret teachings on Creation. As with all Gnosticism, only the few are given this secret knowledge. Of course, God gave secrets to Adam (or Moses, or both), orally. In this way Jews and others dispense with the plain scriptures to bring in ‘interpretations’ that only the initiated can know or understand. A convenient way to introduce occultism and bad teachings. Indeed, it was claimed that one could not be redeemed except he learns the kabbalah.

As this short article is only an introduction, I will not explain the various concepts within kabbalah. There is no real need to provide further information in this article, because it is clear that kabbalah is a corruption of pure Judaism, with nothing to offer Christians. It certainly does not give ‘secret’ meanings to scripture. (A separate article may be written to describe the kabbalistic concepts).